Juvenile Instructor - A Mormon History Blog

Prospectus 3.2: Reevaluating Frances Yates

By Steve FlemingOctober 21, 2011

Here I summarize a group of books that reevaluate the work of Frances Yates. It was Yates’ work on Renaissance Hermeticism that was the foundation for Brooke’s Refiner’s Fire. Thus the reevaluations of Yates, I argue, help us to better situate Mormonism in the history of Christianity. I had considered writing individual reviews but since they interweave it worked to analyze them together. I may do individual reviews of some of these works later.

Conveying Joseph Smith: Brandon Flowers, Arthur Kane, and the Mormon Rock Star Image

By ChristopherOctober 19, 2011

(cross-posted at Religion in American History)

While pundits and theologians continue the seemingly endless debate over whether or not Mormonism is Christian/Mormons are Christians/a Mormon can be a Christian, over at Slate, browbeat writer David Haglund weighs in on the Mormon church’s latest advertising campaign (the “I’m a Mormon” campaign) and the recent participation of The Killers frontman and international rockstar Brandon Flowers in that effort:

Givens and Grow Benchmark Books Lecture on Youtube

By October 18, 2011

From Benchmark Books:

Thanks to the magic of technology, video from our signing event on Oct 14th for Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism (with authors Terryl Givens and Matt Grow) is available on YouTube. If you couldn?t make it to the event, you can go here to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SprRraIyrnk. It was a great evening and we thank both of the authors and those that attended for making it so! We do have signed copies of the biography if you haven?t picked one up yet (we have some signed copies of Givens? and Grow?s other titles also).

Dissertation Prospectus 3.1

By Steve FlemingOctober 17, 2011

So I’m still writing prospectuses (or is it prospecti?) My committee technically passed off my first prospectus in December but did so with reservations. I’ve been working on placating those ever since. Also, the way my adviser Ann Taves likes to do it is to write an original prospectus, then do all the research, and then write another one at that point. I certainly haven’t completed my research but I’m getting there. My point is though I’m still working at this but I don’t feel like I’m spinning my wheels.

Anyway, the latest draft weighed in at 55 pages and 230 footnotes. I’m thinking of doing three posts of some of the introductory material. Here’s number one: [note: a fair amount of this is Ann’s wording]

“The Presence of God: Early Mormonism and Neoplatonism”

Avoiding Intellectual Paralysis, Part 1: Jill Lepore on the Importance of Narrative

By Ben POctober 17, 2011

Last month, at the end of a nearly month-long east-coast research trip, I had the privilege of attended a splendid graduate-student conference hosted by the University of Pennsylvania’s McNeil Center for Early American Studies, titled “The Power of Stories: Authority and Narrative in Early America.”[1] The weekend was filled with spectacular papers, wonderful networking, and I came away invigorated and excited to dig into my own dissertation research. But, not surprisingly, the most provoking paper of the conference was the plenary presentation given by respected Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore. Her paper, “Telling Histories: Or, What Narrative Does,” poses important questions to American scholars in general, and may be of similar importance to practitioners of Mormon studies.

Call for Papers, Mormon History Association (Updated with Extended Deadline)

By ChristopherOctober 8, 2011

Call for Papers (Updated with Extended Deadline)

2012 Mormon History Association Conference

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

?Mormonism In Its Expanding Global Context: Invitations to New Interpretations and Understanding

Givens and Grow Lecture and Book Signing at Benchmark Books, October 14, 2011

By October 5, 2011

From Benchmark Books.

The Book of Abraham and the Ancient Wisdom

By Steve FlemingSeptember 29, 2011

Many Christians have found Plato valuable and those who have have often promoted the idea of prisca theologia, or, the ancient wisdom. The idea was the Plato got his ideas from somewhere else, like hermetic or orphic texts, and some thinkers constructed larger narratives of where the ancient wisdom (Platonic ideas that predated Plato) came from. ?In order to preserve the uniqueness of the Judeo-Christian revelation,? argues D. P. Walker, ?it was usual to claim that pagan Ancient Theology derived from Moses; but sometimes it was supposed to go back further, to Noah and his good sons, Shem and Japeth, or to antediluvian Patriarchs, such as Enoch, or even Adam.? [1]

Overlooked and Under-appreciated Books in Mormon History

By Ben PSeptember 29, 2011

For a book project I am currently working on, I recently revisited Ron Walker’s Wayward Saints: The Godbeites and Brigham Young (which you can download for free here). I had glanced through the book years ago, but it never really made that big of an impression. However, this time through it struck me as a phenomenal volume. Not only is it full of nuance, sophistication, and exhaustive research, but it is better written than a majority of Mormon history books I’ve read. It made me better appreciate Leonard Arrington’s description of Walker as the “best writer” in Mormon studies.

This got me thinking: what other books do we sometimes overlook in the field? Wayward Saints, for instance, only received one vote in a recent survey here on JI, and I failed to include it on my list of the “Mormon History Canon.” (I would probably add it were I to try the list over again.) Some other books that come to mind:

JSPP Internship

By David G.September 24, 2011

Joseph Smith Papers Project Internship-Church History Department

Purpose

The Church History Department announces an opening for a one-year internship with the Joseph Smith Papers Project. This will be a full-time temporary position beginning in October 2011.

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